Hello, new user and problem

[rqaz]

I got a spare ST16 along with the typhoon drone (they were labeled as spare parts), I charged the ST16, the battery icon does not show up, but a DVM shows good battery voltage. When I power it up all I get is the initial fans starting and the backlight comes on for a brief second then goes out, the fans stop and no further life is noted.

I read a number of threads and tried the SD card with Steve Carr's files, but no change. Also when I plug the ST16 into my computer I don't see any device pop up.
I found a web site that claims to repair these, but without any other info, does anyone know if these guys are legit?
I would like to get the ST16 repaired if possible, the site is called yuneecskins, does anyone have feedback about them?

Thanks for reading and any comments would be appreciated.

rqaz

 

[h-elsner]

This is a typical 'bad battery' behavior. The voltage of the battery without load says nothing about the battery health. What you see is most probably the effect that the voltage drops under load. If the RC starts working it needs enough current.

If you say that it is a spare RC, did you try the battery of the other ST16?

 

[lsn618]

Yuneec Skins Is legitimate. He's done work on my birds.

 

[rqaz]

Thanks for the replies, good to know the site is legit as it may be where I send the controller in the end.

I was going to try swapping batteries but my initial look at the batteries blue connector didn't seem it came apart, I didn't see any obvious seam where two parts connected together, so I didn't want to force it and do more damage, I'll take another look in better light.

Good point about the voltage under load, I thought I had the power switch on when I measured it, I will reconfirm and the voltage was ~4.1v if I'm recalling correctly, so to me that seemed like a good battery state given the time I had let it charge.

I was able to insert probe points (SMT probe ends) from my dvm into the connector ends as I can see the metal contacts, as I noted above it didn't look like the connector came apart so that was the only non evasive way to check.

 

[rqaz]

Did some more playing with it and the news is better, I removed the battery from the unit, plugged it back in, turned the unit on and the splash screen actually showed up, it had not done this before.
And here is where things went south, last night I had tried loading the files from Steve carr to the SD card and I forgot I left the SD card installed ;-(.

So the initial splash screen showed up, the unit paused and then rebooted?/ cycled power and when the splash screen showed up the next time, it looked different, So I assume something was flashed from the SD card?, and from this point on the unit is stuck in a loop of the splash screen -> reboot -> splash screen, this seems to repeat forever. I have to remove the battery to stop it, placing the power switch into the off position does nothing.

So the upside is the controller has more 'life' than before, the downside is my stupidity leaving the SD card in, now I'm not sure if it would have booted all the way in its previous state or it would have done this anyway.

Once I get home tonight I'm going to go over Steve's thread again to see if I missed anything.

 

[rqaz]

I found a thread/ post from @RenardThatch that outlined steps using android SDK, I could not get this to work, ADB did not show the device, however if I placed the device into fastboot mode using the hidden button behind the earphone jack did seem to get me closer. The display showed it was in fastboot mode and fastboot devices command on the windows shell did show the device. I tried using the fast boot update command but that failed, remote unknown command was the error.

So still at square one, but did gain a few more grey hairs ;-/

​

 

[WTFDproject]

So still at square one, but did gain a few more grey hairs ;-/

​

Did you ever try the other battery?

Also, you did not mention the actual threads you were reading when you mentioned @Steve Carr and @RenardThatch. But you mentioned using an SD card in the ST16 slot. That hints you may have been reading guidance associated with the ST16S.
Are you certain you were following guidance for the original ST16?

 

[rqaz]

Yes, I did try it, the result was the same.

The thread was labeled "H520 ST16 Controller Update seems to have KILLED my ST16. HELP!", but I have pretty much zero experience with these devices, and I couldn't tell you the difference between a ST16 and ST16S, but bases on the thread title it seems related to ST16

 

[WTFDproject]

BOTH controllers are labeled as "ST16". That has caused lots of confusion.
The easiest way to tell the difference is to look for visible screw heads around the gimbals.

 

[rqaz]

ah ok, thats good to know, I have the 'screw' version, so ST16

 

[WTFDproject]

That might be an issue. You were trying to load files for the ST16s. You also mentioned the "Splash Screen" changed, which suggests you may have been partly successful.
What changed about the splash screen?

 

[rqaz]

In retro spec, I misspoke about the splash screen, when I first powered it up this morning after having removed the battery, The splash screen I saw had sliver/translucent wording, then the next reboot the lettering was flat white. So that is what struck me as different.

But after looking at my working controller, it looks the same. I think what I saw this morning was second splash screen that shows up during the OS boot. So I'm not sure anything was flashed from the SD card at this point.

 

[WTFDproject]

...... I'm not sure anything was flashed from the SD card at this point.

Probably not. That's normally the "problem" with ST16, it does not boot anything from the SD card. Not a problem this time.

 

[rqaz]

I see, I guess that could be good or bad depending on your point of view. I plan on doing more thread searches for any additional tips, but it might just come down to sending it off to yuneecskins if the price estimate is reasonable, still undecided.

I have not even had the chance to fly one of these yet and I have already spent a few hours reading through repair threads...lol

I do appreciate the guidance

 

[WTFDproject]

I wish I could help. But I think this one is headed for a repair shop. The best guess right now would be that a reflash of the image is going to be needed.
If you can access the recovery screen, you can try a "factory reset". It is not a true reset, in that it does not repair/replace damaged firmware. All it does is uninstall and erase non-factory provided APPS and settings. It might be worth a try as a last shot before sending it off. I suppose the issue could be someone loaded a non-factory app that is creating the issue.
If you want to try, this link might help. The guidance was aimed at removing a screen lock. But it removes the screen lock by inducing a factory reset. I'm not sure it will work at all with the ST16 cycling as it is.
ST16 Unlock for Typhoon H

 

[rqaz]

same issue, I never see any adb device when it is cycling, If I force it into fast boot mode then I see the device under the device manager

C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>fastboot devices
BaytrailA01BA602 fastboot


and If I try the fastboot update with the update.zip from Steve's link I get this error

C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>fastboot update
archive does not contain 'android-info.txt'
error: update package 'update.zip' has no android-info.txt

going to call it quits for the night, thanks again for all your input/help

 

[DoomMeister]

I’m not sure what update.zip file you are using to try and fix your ST16, but you are saying it is from @Steve Carr using guidance from the thread you quoted in your previous post. The only link is from this post that was linked to in that post Bricked ST16s Recovery. If you are using that file it is wrong as it is for the ST16S for the H520.

This is a link to the proper files for the H480’s ST16 on the Yuneec Skins website Firmware ZIP Files

 

[rqaz]

ok, my mistake, Let me try this and hopefully this is just a dumb noob mistake on my part

Thank you for the correction and the link

 

[WTFDproject]

If there is a way to use ADB or fastboot to trigger an APK on the SD card of the bricked ST16, then there may be a way to recover the ST16.
If you can trigger the H520 "updatepilot", it will convert the ST16 firmware to the firmware for an ST16S. The ST16S firmware will boot stuff from the SD card, which makes it easy to convert back to ST16.
Is there a way to trigger the APK install in your case?

 

[rqaz]

I can trigger fastboot mode, nothing else seems to show up as it keeps rebooting before anything is recognized.
In fastboot mode it stays powered on much longer and I can see it on the PC.

I have not had a chance to try the new SW DoomMeister pointed to as I'm away from the house until sunday, I should be able to try it then, hopefully I can then update that the controller is now working.